Today’s Field Trip: April 12, 2018
The Hope Life Skills class outside the Financial Services building on the CVS Heath corporate campus in Woonsocket, RI prior to the beginning of today’s career and jobs event.
It was a visit to America’s 7th ranked company on the Fortune 500 list with more than $184 billion dollars in revenue in 2017, almost 250,000 people work for CVS, 9,800 stores, CVS pharmacies are found in every state in the United States as well as the South American country of Brazil and Puerto Rico and 79% of all Americans live within 3 miles of a CVS Pharmacy. The Life Skills
class came to the CVS Health main campus to learn what it’s like to work here and meet the people who make CVS Health the successful company it is!
CVS Health executives greet and welcome Hope Life Skills students to the conference room.
CVS Health executive, Carlos Sanchez, opens today’s event welcoming the students and sharing the agenda for the day. Carlos has been hosting this event at CVS Health for the last 7 years.
Rosa Rodriguez (left) displays a $5 gift card she received from Carlos Sanchez as he commended Rosa for her professional greeting and offering him her business card. Eveline Silva stands next to Rosa.
Carlos Sanchez introduces two of the main speakers of the day. Geraldo Brito (far left), Senior Manager of Circular Planning and Raul Suarez-Rodriguez (far right), Senior Manager, Supplier Diversity, Strategic Procurement
A video profiling Raul’s fascinating story began as a young boy growing up on the island country of Cuba and his emigration to the United States as a 19 year old.
Raul posted on the screen 3 of his tenants for lifetime success. He also shared the challenges he faced assimilating into the American society. From not speaking English when he first arrived in America to the peer sarcasm created by his accent, Raul’s story of courage, perseverance, a focus on education, embracing change and continually pushing himself out of his comfort zone enabled him to be the successful business and family man he is today.
Students engage in a conversation with Raul during his dialogue with them.
Students went to different buildings on the CVS Health campus for small group meetings to learn about different jobs within CVS Health.
One of many small group meetings with CVS Health leaders to learn about specific jobs at the company. Students in this meeting speak with Alejandro Zapata about the different jobs in several different technology departments at CVS Health. From writing computer programs (code) to the future of robots and artificial intelligence, CVS has an increasing number of technology jobs regularly posted. Alejandro said “we can’t find enough computer programmers to fill all the open jobs here“. Other small group meetings focused on Supply Chain Management, Pharmacy, Product Purchasing, Marketing, and Graphic Design.
Lunch!
A working lunch. Geraldo Brito leads a closing discussion with the students about lessons learned during their visit. Geraldo also shared his personal story from his birth in the African country of Angola and then emigrating to the United States as a young boy. Students shared their perceptions of the Geraldo Brito brand – “professional, hardworking, driven, persistent, and handsome!” Then, each student imagined themselves applying for a job at CVS and identified two positive qualities they hoped would be identified by their CVS interviewer.
Before leaving, Gerald Brito shared the observation of one of the security people who greeted and observed the Hope students upon their arrival at the CVS campus. “Steve, the security person told me how impressed he was with the Hope students. He said
‘these Hope students were so respectful and acted professionally. I never imagined high school students as impressive as these students’.”
Nice to hear such compliments about the Hope High School brand.
Students check in at one of the security desks on the CVS campus.
A great day had by all.